The Devourers
by badly-knitted
Summary: A trip out into the countryside searching for the source of strange readings Tosh has been picking up leads to the team becoming not only the hunters but also the hunted. Written for spook me 2017. This is a two-parter.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** The Devourers – Part 1/2

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Owen, Ianto, Jack, Tosh, Gwen, OC.

 **Rating:** PG

 **Word Count:** 3917

 **Spoilers:** Nada.

 **Summary:** A trip out into the countryside searching for the source of strange readings Tosh has been picking up leads to the team becoming not only the hunters but also the hunted.

 **Written For:** spook_me 2017, using Scarecrow

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own Torchwood, or the characters. Think of the fun I could have with them…

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 **sandysan2013:** That last cupcake is always going to be a problem. I like your solution though ;)

Thank you!

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 **DottyWho:** Thank you!

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Owen hadn't been fond of the countryside even before the whole debacle with the cannibals. For a city boy like him, the wide-open, empty spaces, devoid of people and buildings, seemed unnatural and eerie, even in broad daylight. After dark, it was so much worse and he was buggered if he knew why he'd agreed to come out here in the first place.

Oh, right. Jack hadn't given him a choice. Just told him to stop whingeing and get in the car because he was coming whether he liked it or not, and it was his choice as to whether he rode comfortably in the back seat or trussed up in the boot with the rest of the team's equipment. Bastard.

It had still been light when they'd arrived in the middle of nowhere, and how Ianto had known exactly when they got wherever they were going, with nothing but fields in every direction, was beyond Owen. He hadn't even been using the SatNav, and yet he'd pulled confidently off the road onto a convenient patch of grass by a gate, turned off the ignition, and announced, "We're here." Maybe he had satellite navigation built in. Wouldn't surprise Owen in the slightest; there'd always been something a bit off about the Teaboy.

Anyway, it had already been mid-afternoon of a late October day, the sun would be setting not long after six, and that left them maybe two and a half hours to find whatever it was they were looking for before it got too dark to see. Lovely.

The sky was overcast, as it so often was, which meant it would get dark more quickly, so they needed to get a move on, but they were hampered by not having any clear idea of what was out here, or precisely where it was. They knew it hadn't come via the Rift, which didn't stretch this far beyond the city limits, and anyway, the Rift monitor hadn't registered an alert. But Tosh kept her eye on Cardiff and its surrounding by other means as well, namely tapping into various satellite feeds, and she'd picked up something odd a couple of nights ago, a flare of bright light followed by some unusual energy readings somewhere in the vicinity, presumably, of where they were now parked. As if that hadn't been enough to get Torchwood's attention, the police started getting calls the next morning from farmers in the same area about livestock either completely missing or found dead, badly mutilated, and mostly eaten.

Owen couldn't for the life of him understand why anyone, or anything, in their right mind would want to be out here. If he had his choice, he'd be somewhere else, preferably in a city, surrounded by people, and with plenty of alcohol readily to hand. In his opinion, the dead animals were probably the result of wild dogs, or foxes, or poachers. That was way more likely than some kind of alien with a taste for raw cow.

Across the narrow, winding country lane from where they'd parked in the gateway, fields divided by hedgerows stretched to the horizon. The ones closest were empty of visible life, but farther off Owen could make out cows and the fluffy white blobs of sheep.

On their side of the road, the fields were given over to crops, vast swathes of some kind of grain, wheat, or corn, or maybe barley, waiting to be harvested. Wasn't it a bit late in the year for that? Owen wasn't sure, but they'd passed a lot of fields of stubble on their way. Maybe these had been left for the birds or something, but if that was the case, then why all the scarecrows? He could count at least ten of them, dotted around amidst the tall, golden stems, the blustery wind blowing their tattered garments this way and that. They didn't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping the crows away though; dozens of the big black birds were flapping about and perching atop the poles the scarecrows hung from, cawing raucously and pecking savagely at the straw-stuffed effigies.

Well aware of the extent of the task that lay ahead of them, Jack wasted no time in issuing instructions, sending each member of his team off in a different direction in order to cover as much ground as possible while they still had daylight on their side. They were all experienced, well armed, and would be keeping in touch over their Bluetooth headsets so they could call for help if they encountered anything they couldn't handle by themselves, but being sent off alone in such an alien environment didn't sit well with Owen; it put him way outside his comfort zone. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to protest and have everyone laughing at him for being too scared to walk all by his lonesome through a field in daylight, even though he was packing a powerful handgun with which to defend himself. He did have some pride.

The search proved tedious from the start; the team's scanners, usually so reliable, seemed confused, unable to pinpoint the source of the odd readings Tosh's programs had registered two nights earlier, only indicating that it was definitely on this side of the road, and somewhere within an area of approximately one and a half hectares. Owen quickly became frustrated. Bad enough they had to be way out in the middle of nowhere in the first place, but their equipment playing up was just adding insult to injury.

As the afternoon wore on towards evening, Owen and the rest of the team traipsed through field after field, waving their scanners around to no avail; it was like trying to track a ghost. They scared up a lot of birds, some wild mice and other small creatures, and even startled the occasional napping fox, but other than that they found no trace of anything, either living or inanimate. And all the time, the scarecrows loomed above them on their posts. They were seriously creepy, dressed in rags that would flutter in the slightest breeze, and Owen did his best to avoid looking at them. More than once he caught sight of movement from the corner of his eye and all but jumped out of his skin, spinning around, gun aimed, to find it was only a scrap of loose black fabric flapping about, not some unknown menace creeping up on him.

By five-thirty, the sun was well down the sky, and the shadows were lengthening. Daylight wouldn't last much longer; already their surroundings were growing indistinct and half an hour or so later, as the sun began to sink below the horizon, Jack ordered everyone back to the SUV.

"About bloody time," Owen grumbled to himself. "What a waste of an afternoon." He was tired, hungry, and his feet hurt; it would be good to get back to civilisation where he could pop into his favourite pub for pie and chips and a few beers. He'd more than earned it with this wild goose chase. He struck out back the way he'd come with considerably more enthusiasm than he'd shown thus far, a smile on his face and thoughts of the evening ahead buoying his steps.

Sadly for him, his jubilation turned out to be short-lived.

"The readings are getting stronger the darker it gets," Tosh announced as they all clustered around the SUV, drinking coffee and eating the sandwiches Ianto had packed for them before leaving the Hub.

"Makes sense in a way," Jack said. "You picked them up after dark in the first place; maybe whatever we're looking for is nocturnal and hibernates during the day, not generating much in the way of life signs."

"Maybe," Tosh agreed. "At any rate, we'll probably have a better chance of finding this creature, or creatures, now."

"What, you mean we're not going home?" Owen could scarcely believe his ears.

"Of course not," Jack said firmly. "We haven't found what we're looking for yet and we're not going back to Cardiff until we do. Something's killing animals out here, and judging by the pictures Tosh pulled off the police servers, it's nothing of earth origin. That puts it squarely in our jurisdiction, which mean we'll continue our search for as long as it takes; all night if we have to."

"The downside of that being that we're significantly more vulnerable in the dark, especially against something nocturnal," Ianto pointed out. "We should stick together in pairs."

"You seriously expect us to go out there again at night?" Owen decided he didn't care if he sounded a bit freaked out, because he was.

"Scared of the dark, Owen?" Gwen teased.

"No, I'm scared of what's out there hiding in the dark. Whatever it is, it likes its meat raw and bloody; remember? I don't especially want to become some carnivorous alien's dinner. Do you?" That shut her up, and she seemed to lose her appetite, abandoning the sandwich she'd been eating. Owen smirked behind her back; score one for Dr. Harper.

As soon as everyone had finished eating, Ianto stowed the leftover food back in the alien tech-powered cooler that lived in the boot, in case anyone got hungry again later, then passed out powerful lanterns and torches, which gave Owen something else to complain about.

"How are we supposed to carry all these as well as our scanners and weapons? I'm not an octopus; I've only got the two hands!"

Ianto rolled his eyes as if he couldn't believe how thick Owen was. "We're working in pairs, remember? Torches go in pockets, in case they're needed when we locate what we're looking for. One person has a scanner, the other carries the lantern, and both of you keep your guns at the ready." He frowned. "Why do I even need to explain this?" he asked the darkness.

"Wait a minute," Gwen butted in, "how can we work in pairs when there's five of us? Someone's going to be left over, and no way am I going out there on my own!"

Owen snorted. "Now who's afraid of the dark?"

Gwen swatted him with one hand. "Shut up!"

"Children!" Jack put a stop to the argument before it could go any further. "Settle down. Gwen, you'll be with Tosh and Owen. One scanner," he pointed at Tosh, "and two lanterns. Ianto and I will pair up. We won't be able to cover as much ground as quickly as before, but as Ianto pointed out, the darkness puts us at a disadvantage. We all need someone to cover our backs."

"Yeah, right," Owen drawled, "guess that means the three of us will be doing all the work while you two are off canoodling in the corn."

"Grow up, Owen," Ianto sighed wearily. "There's something out here that might well be ripping livestock apart; this is hardly a suitable place or time for 'canoodling' as you so charmingly put it. I've no more desire to become something's dinner than you do."

"Keep your comms switched to receive and shout out if you find anything," was the final advice Jack gave his team before they went their separate ways, Jack and Ianto going left while Owen, with Tosh and Gwen in tow, turned right just inside the first field. Not that Owen felt it had been necessary for him to say anything; they were all capable Torchwood field agents and knew what they were doing, but Jack always had to have the last word.

Searching the fields in the deepening darkness, with only their lanterns for illumination, was so much creepier than it had been in daylight. Even the scarecrows, which had been unnerving enough by day, gained an additional aura of menace. Owen had never liked scarecrows anyway; they were the stuff of late-night horror movies, and had provided plenty of fuel for his nightmares when he was growing up. Maybe he shouldn't have been watching those movies in the first place, but then his mother had never cared enough to stop him, so he figured it was as much her fault as his own. Scarecrows just gave him one more reason to hate the countryside, as if he didn't have more than enough of those already.

Tosh kept her head lowered, watching her scanner, while Owen and Gwen flanked her, their guns at the ready and their eyes constantly searching the darkness beyond the pool of light cast by their lanterns. There was no sound aside from their footsteps, their breathing, the rustle of small animals, and the occasional mournful hoot of an owl. Even the breeze had dropped to nothing as night fell, and somehow that made the air feel oppressive despite the chill that was setting in now that the sun had set.

"Picking up anything?" For the life of him, Owen couldn't have said why he was whispering; it just seemed wise not to draw undue attention to themselves.

"Not really," Tosh murmured in reply. "It's weird; the readings are getting stronger, but I can't pinpoint the source, like it's everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

"It's spooky." Gwen glanced nervously over her shoulder yet again. Despite teasing Owen earlier about being scared of the dark she was jumpy and on edge, wishing she could be anywhere other than the middle of an un-harvested field at night. Chasing Weevils through the dark alleys of Cardiff was less nerve-racking than this. She shifted her lantern into her right hand, gripping it awkwardly because of her gun, and reached up to her Bluetooth earpiece with her left, clicking the tiny button to transmit. "Jack?" Her voice wasn't much above a whisper either.

"Gwen, you find anything?"

The sound of Jack's voice in her ear was strangely reassuring, even though he and Ianto must be well over a mile away by now. "No, not yet. Just checking in. Tosh says whatever her scanner is picking up, it's like it's nowhere in particular but everywhere at once. Makes it hard to home in on anything."

"Ianto's having the same problem. Just keep searching; whatever it is, it's definitely out here somewhere."

"Will do. Be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

Gwen could practically see Jack's wide, cocky smile and she huffed a brief laugh as she heard Ianto's voice chime in dryly in the background, "Not noticeably, no." She clicked out and shifted her lantern back into her left hand again.

Following Tosh's lead, the three moved slowly deeper into the field. Thanks to the meandering course they were taking, by this point Owen couldn't have said which direction the road was, never mind the SUV, even if his life depended on it. He hoped they wouldn't have to beat a hasty retreat, because as things were, they'd probably end up running around in circles. What if they never found their way out and their bones were discovered months, or years from now, stripped clean by predators…? He quickly shut down that line of thought; it wasn't helping his nerves.

How much time passed, none of them could say for sure, but at some point the moon rose, huge and full, like a silvery balloon floating against the black backdrop of the night sky. The extra light was welcome, even though it created shadows where there hadn't previously been any.

Their breath steamed in front of them. Owen's feet were getting cold; he wished he was wearing something more substantial than trainers, but he hadn't really expected to still be out here after dark. At least he had gloves on so his fingers wouldn't go numb. It wouldn't be good if they got attacked and his hands were so cold that he couldn't pull the trigger.

It must have been getting on for ten when things started to take a turn for the worse. Passing one of the many posts that supported the overabundance of scarecrows, Gwen stopped dead as her two teammates continued on. "Owen?" she called nervously.

"What?" He glanced back over his shoulder.

"Why isn't there a scarecrow on this post?"

He sighed, exasperated. "How should I know? Maybe the farmer didn't have enough to go around, or maybe it fell off, or got stolen. What does it matter? We've got a job to do; a missing scarecrow is the last thing we need to worry about, so come on. Don't want to be out here all night, do you?"

Gwen shook her head and hurried to catch up, putting the missing scarecrow out of her mind for the moment, but a few minutes later, as they continued to make their way through the tall stems of whatever crop this was, they came to another post, and there was no scarecrow on that one either.

"Coincidence," Owen asserted stubbornly, urging the girls ahead of him and glancing nervously back the way they'd come. "It's just a coincidence, okay?"

Two might have been a coincidence, but three in a row? The three teammates clustered around the base of the third empty post, keeping their backs to it and looking around warily. After a moment of not seeing anything else untoward, Tosh turned to the post, playing her scanner over it.

"I never noticed before, but the residual readings around the posts are a little stronger than the ambient," she murmured.

"What does that even mean?" Owen spared her the briefest of glances.

"I can't say for certain, but maybe something was here that was masking itself," Tosh said, "and considering the size of the area I've been picking up readings from, that could mean quite a lot of somethings." She looked up at the empty post.

"The scarecrows?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know, but… It's possible what we assumed were ordinary scarecrows might not really be scarecrows at all."

"Shit!" Owen cursed. He juggled lantern and gun, reaching to tap his Bluetooth on. "Jack?"

"Here, Owen."

"Are you two noticing a lot of empty posts where the scarecrows were earlier?"

"Huh. Now that you mention it, we did pass an empty post a minute ago. Didn't think anything of it."

"Yeah, well we've found three empty in the last ten minutes, and I couldn't swear to it, but I have a horrible feeling they were occupied last time we passed this way."

"Okay, so not scarecrows then?"

"That's what Tosh thinks."

In another field a mile and a half away from Owen and the girls, Jack and Ianto shifted to stand back-to-back, so nothing could sneak up behind either of them.

"Did anyone happen to count the scarecrows earlier?" Ianto asked, joining the conversation.

"No, but I'm starting to think that might have been wise," Jack said.

"At a rough estimate, somewhere between fifteen and twenty I think," Tosh cut in. "Sorry I can't be more accurate." She sounded apologetic, as if she felt she'd somehow let them down. "I should have thought to log their positions before we started our search, if only for their potential as landmarks."

"Not your fault, Tosh. We didn't know they were what we were looking for," Jack replied. "If we had, we'd be back in Cardiff by now. Anyway, we had no reason to suspect them. Seeing scarecrows in a field of corn isn't the kind of thing that's going to set the alarm bells ringing."

"I guess you're right."

"So what now?" Owen asked.

"Last night they went after nearby livestock to eat," Gwen said. "They'll probably do the same thing tonight. We should head back and check out the fields across the road."

Owen shook his head. "You're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?"

"They have a source of fresh meat available a lot closer than the cows and sheep over the road."

Gwen looked vaguely puzzled. "They do?"

"He means us," Tosh said quietly.

"Oh."

"Best thing we can do is keep moving," Jack said firmly. "Standing still like this we're sitting ducks."

"Or standing ducks," Ianto muttered.

"Maybe we should head back towards the SUV though," Owen suggested. "It's more defensible than being out on the open. We can regroup there and with any luck, these creatures, whatever they are, will come to us."

"We're closer to each other than we are to the SUV," Ianto disagreed. "Might be best to work our way towards each other, then head for the road once we're all together."

"Ianto's right," Jack agreed. "Strength in numbers. Just keep your eyes open, guns at the ready, and watch your backs."

"Don't need to tell us that," Owen griped. "We're not new to this and we're, not idiots. Okay, let's move out. Gwen, take point. Tosh, you're in the middle and I'll bring up the rear."

"Which way do we go?" Gwen asked uncertainly, looking around.

"That way." Tosh looked up from the PDA she'd pulled from her coat pocket and pointed. "I can home in on Jack's wrist strap with this and keep us on the right track."

Somewhere far off among the tall plants, Jack was using his wrist strap to home in on the other members of his team and the two small groups began to wend their way cautiously towards each other through the eerie, moonlit landscape.

They'd been walking for maybe ten minutes before Owen's group became aware of faint rustling noises among the tall stems to one side of them. Gwen automatically started to veer in the opposite direction, away from the sounds, hoping to elude whatever was creeping towards them.

"Stay on course, Gwen," Tosh snapped.

"But…"

"Stay on course! Whatever's out there could be trying to drive us into a trap, but we're not going to be spooked and herded like animals; we're armed and we can defend ourselves if need be so just ignore the noises and keep going straight ahead."

Biting her lip, Gwen changed direction again, resuming her previous course and forging onwards. After only a few more paces they could hear the faint sounds of movement coming from both sides and glancing back the way they'd come, Owen thought he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure flitting across the narrow track they were creating as they walked.

"Jack? Sounds like we're surrounded," he whispered into his Bluetooth, having nudged the button with one knuckle of the hand holding the lantern.

"Same here." Jack kept his voice just as quiet and low. "Should reach you in another fifteen to twenty minutes."

"A lot can happen in twenty minutes."

"Nothing we can't handle." Jack's confidence bolstered Owen's, which had been starting to flag a little.

"Right. They try anything they won't know what hit 'em."

"That's the spirit."

"A little bothered they might try to sneak up behind me. This is one of those times I could really use eyes in the back of my head."

"Been there, done that," Ianto said quietly. "Not as helpful as it sounds, it gets seriously disorienting looking in two directions at once, especially if you're trying to walk at the same time."

Owen snorted. "I remember. Gave yourself a concussion, didn't you?"

"If you think double vision is bad, you should try quadruple vision."

"No thanks; think I'll pass." The banter helped, not distracting Owen, whose eyes never stopped their scrutiny of his surroundings, but calming him with its sheer normality in the middle of a stressful situation. Ianto was surprisingly good at defusing tension with a perfectly timed quip. It was one of the qualities Owen appreciated most in the other man.

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TBC in Part 2


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** The Devourers – Part 2/2

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Owen, Ianto, Jack, Tosh, Gwen, OC.

 **Rating:** PG

 **Word Count:** 4022

 **Spoilers:** Nada.

 **Summary:** The team are in trouble, surrounded by creatures intent on making a meal out of them. Will they get out of this in one piece? They could use a little help...

 **Written For:** spook_me 2017, using Torchwood, Scarecrow, and these pics here and here.

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own Torchwood, or the characters. Think of the fun I could have with them…

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The attack, when it came, was sudden, with half a dozen figures converging on them out of the cover afforded by the tall plants surrounding them, three from each side. Team Torchwood were used to fending off Weevil attacks however, and all three of them raised their guns, firing within a split second of each other, sending their attackers scuttling back into cover.

"You guys okay?" Jack's voice came through their earpieces, sounding tense.

"Yeah, we're all fine," Owen assured him. "Whatever those things are, they retreated when we shot at them, but as far as I could tell our bullets didn't do much damage."

"What did they look like?"

"Hard to say, I only caught a brief glimpse of them, but a lot like scarecrows really. Tattered clothes, lumpy noses…"

"Bipedal, three-clawed hands and feet," Tosh added. "Sharp-looking teeth too. It's easy to believe they could rip an animal to shreds."

"Nasty. Okay, keep moving; they'll probably take a few minutes to re-think their strategy before they come at you again. You said bullets didn't harm them?"

"Not noticeably; didn't see any blood."

"That could be a problem."

"You think? 'Cause guns are all we've got unless we can get back to the SUV."

"I'm well aware of that, Owen."

"Just thought I'd mention it." Owen urged the girls onwards, noting that Tosh had traded her PDA for her torch, holding it down by her side in her left hand but not turning it on. "Tosh?"

"They're nocturnal; if they come at us again I'm going to shine it in their eyes on the highest setting, see how they like that."

"Nice." Owen smiled grimly; Tosh was good at thinking on her feet, he really needed to stop underestimating her.

The rustling around them resumed as the creatures kept pace with them, keeping just out of sight and a couple of minutes later, the three teammates heard gunfire not far off. Before Owen could switch his Bluetooth to 'send', Ianto's voice came through, tense but steady.

"We're both okay. You're right about bullets not doing them much harm, but Jack managed to hit one in the eye and it didn't like that at all, staggered back into the undergrowth clawing at its own face. If they come at you again, aim for their heads."

"They're only testing our defences so far," Jack added. "The time to worry will be when they stage an all-out attack, but hopefully that won't happen until after we join forces. I estimate we should be with you in a little over eight minutes."

"Okay, good." Couldn't be soon enough for Owen; whichever way you looked at it, five people with guns stood more of a chance against an unknown number of carnivorous scarecrows than three did. Still, right now they were only three, and would be until their little band found Jack and Ianto, or vice versa, so they kept moving, alert and ready for whatever the scarecrow things threw at them next.

Seconds ticked past, and Owen counted them off in his head as he walked. Thirty… forty… fifty… one minute… one minute thirty… two minutes…

Abruptly, an eerie, ululating screech sliced through the night, only to be cut off almost immediately. It stopped them in their tracks.

"What was that?" Gwen hissed, peering around apprehensively, her voice wavering slightly. The sound had seemed to come from ahead of them and to their left. She was glancing back over her shoulder to check the other two were still behind her when Tosh cried out.

"Gwen, look out!"

Her head whipping around so fast she lost her balance and almost fell, Gwen raised her gun, trying to take aim at the scarecrow that was lunging towards her, knowing even as she did that it wouldn't be fast enough. She silently cursed herself for letting her guard down even for a split second, but before the creature could get its claws into her, another figure seemed to simply appear out of nowhere, jumping between her and the scarecrow, its back to her.

For a moment, she thought Jack and Ianto had arrived in the nick of time to help her; then her eyes registered what she was seeing. It was a man, of sorts, or at least he looked mostly human, and yet there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on, something that made her think he might not be from earth. Maybe it was what he was the way he was dressed.

He was a little taller than Jack and Ianto, maybe six foot two, clad in some kind of armour, and holding a lantern in his left hand similar to the one she carried. However, it was what he gripped in his right hand that really caught her attention, a long, broad, heavy-looking silver metal blade with an ornate gold hilt. It looked wickedly sharp and even as she opened her mouth to say something, although she had no idea what, he swept the sword in a powerful arc, cleaving the scarecrow's head from its body. The creature dropped like a stone, revealing itself to be nothing more than a bundle of ragged clothes stuffed with old straw. The head was a different matter; it rolled about on the ground gnashing its teeth, malevolent glowing eyes flickering back and forth as if seeking some means of escape. Unlike the stranger, it was definitely alien. Without hesitation, the swordsman raised his blade once more and brought it down, slicing through the disembodied head. Again, that eerie screech reached their ears, filled with rage, frustration, and pain. Light flared briefly from the shattered head and then it crumbled into nothing.

The armoured man stood poised on the balls of his feet, eyes darting about, searching the surrounding shadows. Owen was frozen in place, much like the two girls ahead of him, and might have stayed that way for who knew how long if Jack's voice hadn't come though his earpiece, snapping him out of it.

"Owen, what's happening?"

"I'd kinda like to know that myself," he whispered in response. "This bloke dressed in fucking armour just appeared out of nowhere and lopped the head off one of the scarecrows with an honest to god sword, then sliced it in two. I'm pretty sure it's dead now, and I think he might've already killed another one before that."

"Looks like we're on the same side," Tosh added. "I mean, if he's here to kill the scarecrows…"

"Don't take that for granted," Jack snapped. "Stay on your guard. We're almost to your position."

Mere seconds later, Jack and Ianto burst into view, coming out of the surrounding vegetation from their right, and a few yards ahead of the stranger, who immediately lowered his sword, resting the tip on the ground just in front of his feet. He straightened up, shoulders relaxing as he regarded them.

"Have no fear, the lady speaks true; I mean you no harm." His voice was astonishingly deep and resonant, but strangely accented.

Jack stepped ahead of Ianto, who immediately turned to face in the opposite direction, covering his back. That made Owen remember exactly where they were and he turned away too; someone had to make sure none of the scarecrow things took advantage of their distraction. Tosh and Gwen followed suit, reluctantly tearing their attention away from Jack and the swordsman to face outwards, alert for signs of attack while listening in to the conversation going on behind them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Jack asked warily, his Webley still raised, its barrel pointing unwaveringly towards the man with the sword.

The stranger gave a shallow bow. "My pardon, Sir. I am named Kai Andro and I beg your forgiveness for intruding on your hunt, but I am sworn to destroy these abominations, down to the very last. They slew my entire clan and I, as the last survivor of my family, have tracked them for fully half my life, seeking vengeance. The hunt has led me across more than a dozen worlds until only a mere handful of the creatures remain, animating corpses and mannequins in order to feed on flesh, hoping to grow strong enough to breed and replenish their numbers. I cannot allow that to happen lest they grow strong enough to wipe out entire worlds. If you would only grant me the boon of allowing me to hunt down these last few alongside you, I would be forever in your debt."

Jack considered the man's words, studying him carefully. "You're Cavellian, right?"

"You know of my world?" Arched eyebrows rose higher. "That is most curious. It was my understanding that this planet had not yet developed interstellar travel. Strictly speaking, I have broken the law by coming here."

"I spent several very enjoyable weeks on Cavellos when I was… younger. To be honest, this isn't my world either," Jack said wryly, "but I got stranded here a long time ago and I've made a good life here. I'm Captain Jack Harkness and these are my team. Ianto Jones," he gestured over his shoulder, "Owen Harper behind you, Gwen Cooper-Williams, whose life you just saved, and last but by no means least, our resident technical genius Toshiko Sato."

Andro briefly bowed again. "It is an honour to make your acquaintance, but we should not remain here for much longer; the loss of two of their number will not hold the abominations from attacking indefinitely."

"Then we'd best head back to our vehicle. Our guns aren't exactly proving all that effective against these creatures; we didn't know what we'd be up against, just that something out here was killing a lot of livestock. We need to re-arm ourselves with something more suitable."

"Very well; lead the way and I will provide rear guard. My armour will warn me if any of the creatures attempt to attack from behind."

Jack nodded. The inhabitants of Cavellos were famed for being among the most honest and honourable of people, and since Kai Andro wanted these creatures dead as much as he did, it seemed only sensible to join forces with the only person who actually knew what they were up against. "Okay, kids; let's move out. Which way, Tosh?"

After briefly consulting her PDA, Tosh pointed. "Just under a mile in that direction."

Following Tosh's pointing finger, Jack set off, Tosh and Ianto walking side by side behind him, followed by Gwen and Owen, with Kai Andro bringing up the rear.

By now the full moon was riding high in the sky, bathing the field in silvery light. A quick peek at his watch told Owen it was almost midnight; under other circumstances he might have expected to feel tired, but with everything that had happened since night had fallen he and the rest of the team were wide awake, which was just as well.

They'd made it nearly halfway to the road where the SUV waited when the next attack came. The team and their visitor immediately moved into a defensive formation, standing in a loose circle, facing outwards, Kai Andro swinging his sword and decapitating two of the creatures in the space of a few seconds while the Torchwood team opened fire, aiming at heads.

The battle probably lasted no more than a couple of minutes, the creatures clearly unaware of the limitations of handguns, which need to be frequently reloaded. Eerie wailing filled the air as the creatures once more fell back, several of them clutching their heads, and leaving four of their number behind. Andro wasted no time in destroying the disembodied heads, a grim smile of satisfaction on his face as each one crumbled into dust.

"That's six down, and I counted four injured," Ianto said as they moved off again. "Will their injuries slow them down?"

"For a short while only, so we must use the time we have bought ourselves wisely. As you yourselves have said, your weapons lack sufficient power; the damage caused by the projectiles they fire heals too quickly."

"That's why we need to get back to the SUV," Jack said. "We have laser pistols there that should even the odds a bit. Anyone manage to make a head count of how many creatures are left?"

"They were nineteen when I followed them here; six have how been destroyed, so thirteen remain," Andro informed them

"There's no chance they might have bred since they arrived here?" Ianto asked.

"None. I was but a day behind them, delayed by my own injuries and the need to sleep. They must feed and feed well for at least ten nights in order to build up sufficient resources to fuel reproduction, and gestation requires more than twice that long."

"But what if they fed and mated before leaving a planet?" Owen asked.

Andro shook his head. "They have no spacecraft; they must enter a kind of suspended animation in order to travel between worlds, utilising all their physical resources to sustain them. Any gestating young get reabsorbed to ensure the creatures' survival during the journey. When they reach a planet, they find suitable hosts and immediately begin to feed. The forms they are currently inhabiting are less than ideal, being mannequins made of organic materials rather than previously living creatures. No doubt they used what was available, intending to switch hosts as soon as they were able. It is fortunate they landed in such a remote area; other worlds have not been so lucky."

"The Rift may have deflected them," Tosh mused. "It has a habit of knocking ships off course."

"Possibly," Jack agreed. "Despite all the trouble it can cause, it does occasionally have its uses."

All the time they were talking they were making the best possible speed towards the road. It almost came as a surprise when the hedgerow bordering it loomed before them and they quickly turned aside, following it to the gate and the SUV parked just beyond.

While the rest of the team formed a defensive semicircle around the rear of the vehicle, Tosh unlocked the boot, found the laser pistols, and handed them out, each person holstering their handgun before accepting one of the hopefully more appropriate weapons. They should be able to slice through heads with them almost as well as Andro could with his sword. Ianto also armed himself with the hand axe he kept in the SUV for emergencies, hefting it easily in his left hand while holding the laser pistol in his right. It didn't have the reach of a sword, but it should do the job if brought down of the top of a head.

"Do we wait for them to come to us now?" Owen asked hopefully.

"I would not advise it," Andro said quietly. "They may simply go in search of an easier meal. If we keep up the offensive they will have no choice but to fight us."

"Can you track the creatures?" Tosh asked. "My instruments are having trouble pinpointing them."

"They broadcast to each other continuously; that is likely what is confusing your devices. I have found that they are most easily tracked by means of the sound they make, but it is far too high to be detected by most species. I cannot detect it myself and must rely on the sensors in my armour to guide me."

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Pulling out her scanner, Tosh started making adjustments, fine-tuning its audio detectors. "Got them!" she exclaimed triumphantly after no more than a few minutes. "They're broadcasting in the two hundred to three hundred kilohertz range." She waved the scanner. "Now we can hunt them instead of the other way around."

"Good work, Tosh." Jack grinned at his tech wizard. "Let's go get us some abominations."

"Is that really what they're called?" Gwen asked curiously.

"It is what I call them, or the closest approximation my translator can find in your language," Andro said. "If they have a name for themselves, then I am unaware of it."

"Fair enough," Owen said with a shrug. " Calling them 'Abominations' works for me."

Armed and ready, they slammed the boot of the SUV and headed back through the field to do battle. They were six against thirteen, odds that didn't seem too bad considering they had laser pistols while the enemy only had claws and teeth. Not that any of the team were being overly optimistic, they were still at a bit of a disadvantage because of the darkness and the unfamiliar terrain, but they were hopefully more adaptable than the creatures they were after.

Even with Tosh's new detector, finding thirteen targets in fields of waving grain wasn't the easiest task. The creatures only approached close enough to be seen when they were attacking, and it quickly became clear that using laser pistols in a field of ripe grain was a bad idea. The first time they tried it, they spent the next ten minutes stamping out several small fires.

"This isn't going to work," Jack said with a sigh. "If we're not careful we'll wind up burning down the whole field with us in it. The lasers might have been usable if we'd stayed out on the road, but in here they're more of a liability than a help."

"We did manage to kill two with them," Gwen reminded the others. "That means there's only eleven left."

"Ten," Tosh corrected. "Kai got another while you were putting out the fire."

"Slow progress is still progress," Ianto said. "So, back to handguns?"

"Probably safer," Jack agreed.

One at a time, they put the lasers in coat pockets and drew out their automatics again. At least they knew enough bullets in the scarecrows' heads would disable them long enough for Andro to deliver the coup de grace.

They moved deeper into the field, following the inaudible signal Tosh's scanner was picking up, and eventually cornering one of the creatures they'd injured earlier against the hedge at the far side of the field. Too late they realised it was a trap as the other nine converged on them out of the darkness.

The team barely managed to turn in time as scarecrows leapt on them from all directions. One sank teeth into Tosh's arm, but Andro thrust the blade of his sword through its head, which exploded in a burst of black dust. Gwen fell backwards, dropping her gun and torch in an effort to keep snapping teeth away from her throat, and Ianto sliced the top of her attacker's head off with a backhanded swipe of the axe, leaving her grappling with nothing more than a straw-stuffed shirt and trousers, which she quickly shoved away with a cry of disgust.

Jack and Owen fired their guns at scarecrow heads until they ran out of bullets, then Ianto and Gwen, who was back on her feet again, gun in hand, took over while they reloaded.

Kai Andro spun like a dervish, slicing off two heads and leaving them on the ground for Ianto to finish off with his axe as Jack and Owen opened fire again. Six headless scarecrow bodies were littering the ground around them now, including the one that had taken the role of bait. That left only four.

Owen dropped back to tend to Tosh's injured arm, binding the wound with a length of bandage from the small first aid kit Andro carried. It was painful, but not too deep thanks to the protection provided by the sleeve of her coat. He'd do a better job of it once they got back to the SUV.

"Those things aren't venomous or anything, are they?" he asked.

"No, they have no need of venom; they simply eat. Your lady will recover."

"She's not my lady," Owen corrected. "We're just friends."

"Ah, then if she is not yours, to whom is fair Toshiko pledged? If it is not a discourteous question."

"No one," said Tosh with a wistful smile. "There's no one."

"How can that be?" Kai asked, astonished. "One so fair must surely have no shortage of suitors."

Tosh had no further chance to answer as the remaining four scarecrows chose that moment to attack and the next few minutes were barely controlled chaos as the team and their new friend worked together to finish them off in a short but fierce battle.

When it was over, Jack was down, bleeding heavily, his neck and shoulder slashed by vicious claws. Ianto put his axe through the head of the scarecrow responsible, a savage smile on his face. "Is that all of them?"

Andro speared the last head and made a quick count of bodies. "It is. But your leader… Is he badly injured?"

Jack levered himself up on one elbow and Ianto gave him a hand to regain his feet. "I'm fine, or I will be." He probed the wound at his neck with careful fingers. "How does it look?"

Ianto shone his torch. "Mostly healed. You were lucky it missed your throat."

"That wasn't luck; I dodged."

"Good thing; I rather like your head attached to the rest of you."

"So do I," Jack smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Couple of minor scratches." Ianto pointed his torch down at his leg; his jeans were ripped below his left knee but when he drew the fabric aside the cuts caused by the scarecrow's claws looked shallow. "One of them grabbed at me when it fell, but I think it was already losing control over its body."

"Anybody else hurt?" Owen looked around.

"I'm okay," Gwen said, retrieving her dropped torch.

"It's over." Kai Andro sheathed his sword and stood staring at the lifeless straw bodies that were all that remained of the vast swarm of creatures he had hunted for so long. He seemed somehow lost. "After all this time, the last of them are dead. My clan is avenged."

"That's good, isn't it?" Tosh got slowly to her feet. "What will you do now?" she asked softly.

Dark eyes turned towards her. "I… do not know. I have never allowed myself to think so far ahead. This hunt has been my only purpose for so long."

"Well, we could always use another pair of hands," Jack spoke up. "After this, I think I speak for the whole team when I say you're welcome to stay as long as you want."

"That would be permitted?"

"Why not? We owe you for helping us with this little problem. Without your knowledge of the creatures we could've been in a lot of trouble. It's not always quite this exciting around here, but we have our moments; rogue Weevils, invasion attempts, all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff."

For the first time, Andro's face softened into a smile. "Then I thank you. I think I should very much like to stay, at least for a time. I have seen little of your world, but what I have seen is very beautiful."

Jack noted the other man was looking not at him but at Tosh, who was blushing slightly.

"That's settled then." Jack sounded smugly satisfied. "Might be a little cramped in the SUV on the drive back, but I think we'll manage." He glanced up at the moon. "Nice night for a stroll," and with that he took Ianto's hand, the one not currently gripping an axe, and set off through the tall stems yet again, glad this time that they were no longer in danger of being attacked and eaten. "With a bit of luck we'll be back in Cardiff before dawn."

Owen and Gwen fell in behind Jack, with Tosh and Kai Andro trailing behind them as the six victors made their weary way back through the moonlit fields towards the distant road and home. Glancing back over his shoulder at Tosh and Kai, talking together in low voices, Owen decided that maybe this little jaunt hadn't been a complete waste of time. He still hated the countryside, but all in all, things seemed to have worked out pretty well.

.

The End


End file.
